Posted by Kendall Raine on March 27, 2001 at 10:35:15:
In Reply to: Re: DIR videos now on the web for free>Yellow regs posted by Steve on March 27, 2001 at 09:42:30:
Steve;
You're trying to make a helpful suggestion. That's fine. Thank you. I assumed too much before. Sorry.
You mention industry standards. What exactly are "industry standards?" If something is ubiquitous in the dive industry does that mean we all should conform to it? Of course not. Seems to me an idea is either logical or it's not. So many things which are everywhere in the dive industry are poorly thought-out, silly or potentially dangerous.
The idea of personally modifying the DIR system, by using a yellow primary, or whatever, is a slope everyone who adopts the system needs to fight against simply because that way leads to continuing personalization of the system. A week of that and no two rigs will be the same and one major advantage of common rigging is lost. The other thing that's lost is not all modifications are needed or make sense and the personalization is done without the benefit of the logic synthesis that goes on in DIR.
On the merits/logic of a yellow primary, in particular, your point is, I think, that an unfamiliar diver can appear out of nowhere in need of gas. You're right. It could happen. The OOA diver takes you unawares and reaches for the necklace second because that's the way he was trained and has no reason, like a yellow primary, to react otherwise. Since it's bungied he can't get it. Is that the scenario? Right, again. It could happen. In that case, just take the primary and shove it in the OOA divers mouth and purge. SOP. Takes no time at all, especially since you've practiced just that possibility. It seems more likely that an OOA diver is going to reach for the regulator in your mouth anyway, regardless of its color, than one tucked under the chin. Furthermore, to catch you unawares, the OOA is probably approaching you from behind, where the color of the primary wouldn't matter. My point, as originally, is that a yellow primary is unecessary.
If I've missed something in your thinking, again, my apologies.